The door creaks open and I have a split moment to see dad in the hallway, the chain around his neck hanging freely. Broken. His grey face snaps in the direction of the door. His eyes, centered in their dark, sunken sockets, remain milky, but appear less-so today. He's looking directly at me, his mouth spread wide, black tongue lolling. I gasp.

Accustomed to his shady nature, Fil wastes no time in taking off. I feel the wind shift and hear his heavy footfalls making a slow get-away. I almost have the door shut when my father rips it open and gives chase. I fall backward into a bush beside our porch. Dad, who would have panicked and ran to help me in a healthy state, ran right. Y me and crashed into Fil, sinking his stained teeth into the old perverts skull.

I look away from the carnage, searching for Salem while I try to regain footing and breath. I process the fact that dad didn't go straight for me. Instead of attacking me—the person in front—dad plowed right by to tear into Fil. I'm kind of stunned. He recognized me. He must have.

Salem jogs up, groaning. He slipped the gun in a holster at his hip and went to work wrangling dad. 

"Are you okay?" he asks. 

I'm crawling out of the bush as it pokes and scrapes me. "Yeah, mostly." 

Salem is yanking dad by the chain, while he fights to devour what's left of Fil. I get a chill watching dad like that, his grey skin and sunken dead-looking eyes. His mouth is frothing a bloody foam while he wildly pulls against his captor. It's like Salem's got Cujo at the end of the chain, not my normally reserved police officer father. They disappear inside and I look down at Fil. He's a mess, and his lips are pulled back in a sneer, as if he knows it. His eyes are far away. I know it's just a matter of time before they cloud over and he re-awakens. 

"Everything okay, Jan?" I hear Mr. Carpenter call from next door. He's wearing another Hawaiian Aloha shirt. He never seems to run out of them. This one is bright orange with dark and light blue hibiscus flowers all over. He glances at Fil. "Is that Filbert Hawk?"

Shouldn't he be screaming? Calling the cops? Didn't he see a very alive Filbert walk up and get plowed down my father? My less-than-living father. 

"Ahm...yeah?" I say cautiously. 

He stares at the body a moment and then he surprises me. "Good to see that this damned virus is getting the bad guys, too," he says. 

I let that sink in a moment. Salem comes up next to me. I know because of the way he stands so close. Other people usually allow a respectable distance. Too close and you're invading someone's space. With siblings, I'm not sure that distance rule even exists. 

"Did you get him good, Jan?" Mr. Carpenter asks, and he doesn't even wait for an answer before he's following up with Salem. "Make sure you get him, Sal, or he'll get back up. Those things always do. They don't stop coming on the news. And make sure you call the Retrievers so they can dispose of the body safely. We're not supposed to burn them anymore."

"'Kay!" Salem calls over. "Thanks for the heads up, Raymond!" 

Mr. Carpenter's fish belly-white teeth make a full appearance and then he steps back in his doorway, disappearing behind the heavy oak. 

"What just happened?" I asks stunned. 

"He must have just thought Filbert turned and attacked you. Speaking of-"

I follow his que and stare down at Fil in time to see his head twitch. Then his arms start twitching, as if his body is spasming. His legs start. I'm speechless. I can't think of anything except getting away from him before the inevitable happens. I step back. Salem is standing firm, watching. When Fil opens his eyes, like cloudy marbles, Salem puts a bullet in his head splattering blood onto the porch and the pokey bush I just climbed out of moments ago. 

The fear that overtook me dissipates quickly now that the threat is gone and I feel embarrassed. How can I be so afraid of whatever they turn into, and at the same time want my parents to live so badly? I push the thoughts away. Fil was a bad person. He didn't deserve better. My father is a cop. He saves people--at least he did. He has saved lots of people. My mother was a nurse. She also saved lives. What did Fil ever do but destroy young lives? 

"We're going to have to call the Retrieval Crew," says Salem. "Don't worry, they'll think he turned before getting here. He attacked you, I shot him, case closed."

"But-"

"If we don't, it'll look weird." He nods over toward Mr. Carpenter's house. 

"Fine," I agree. 

As we're walking in, he reminds me that mom still needs to feed. 

"I know," I say.